There was a lot of fun things happening during the Lunar New Year celebrations. The martial arts showcase not only had exotic weapon drills, but also a demonstration of tameshiwari (breaking stuff). It wasn't every day that one could see a female panda Animalian break four slabs of marble (prepared specially for this event) in one blow, or a Japanese macaque Animalian crush a coconut with one hand. They also used pig carcasses and/or sides of beef (imported from elsewhere in the US) to demonstrate the lethality of the edged weapons, both as a safety valve, and to "prepare" them for the buffet in the evening. When asked about the idea, Clara said that she had accidentally seen an episode of Deadliest Warrior, and got the idea from there.
Another thing that was there was a display of Oriental artwork. Several stalls turned out to have artwork and curios for sale. There were also displays of models of famous Asian landmarks, such as the Great Wall of China, the Terra Cotta Army, and others. Animalians who were uplifted Asian animals were fascinated with these models. There was also a map of the Silk Road, the only major "interstate" of the ancient world.
The living dioramas that had started during the ATE, came back with displays of ancient asian lifestyles, such as the Mongols for example. Another living dioramas showcased Chinese medicine, even if it did confuse some modern medical practitioners. Such living dioramas helped Animalians learn about their heritages, and humans got to see unusual things.
The new Golden Mountain Dojo, actually a modern replica of the famous Shaolin monastery in China, was officially opened during the festivities. It was not only a place to learn martial arts, but also a museum ABOUT the martial arts of Asia. There were also modern amenities such as bathrooms and running water, but the biggest surprise was the seemingly natural hot springs (actually modern hot tubs without the frothing water that could have mineral salts and/or herbs added) for soaking after training. Teens and young adults, both human and Animalian were already signing up for martial arts classes, both to stay fit and to learn how to protect themselves, just in case. There was a lot of delight when one of the old martial arts masters teaching there revealed that he had became a toad Animalian, but he wasn't going to be the "old pervert" that seemed to be popular in graphic novels from Asia such as Naruto or the Dragonball series.
The East Vs. West match in the Claw Coliseum turned out to be very interesting. The two roosters, going by the stage names Alexander the Great (for the European rooster) and Sun Tsu (for the Chinese rooster) would open each round with both trash talking and threat displays, then would move on to fighting. It was something to watch Greek pankration go up against Chinese Kung Fu. While most of it was serious moves, there were some silly moves designed to put on a show and make people laugh. This would ultimately lead to the creation of a new television show about kung fu chicken crime fighters going up against a monkey crime syndicate with hilarious martial arts moves, bad jokes, and cheesy martial arts one-liners.
The Miss Zodiac competition was nothing like a traditional beauty pageant, it was more like a beauty pageant combined with a bodybuilding competition. There was some showcasing of beauty, but also some showing of strength. One of the strength challenges was bending fourteen solid iron bars out of shape in the shortest time possible. The winner was a female silkie named Tara, who was from Abby's farm, but the others didn't care about it because all they cared about was showing off to their mates and or offspring.
The all-you-can-eat Oriental buffet turned out to be a great idea. It turned out there was more to oriental food than just Chinese. There was also a showing for Japanese, Mongolian, southeast Asian, and others. There were also some information on famous oriental chefs, such as I Yin (the chef who became a prime minister). It was also something to see chefs prepare oriental food right in front of your eyes. There was also the revelation that chop suey wasn't a dish, but a way to say 'prepared very quickly.'
The Golden Dragon Acrobats put on a great performance. It was surprising that humans were capable of extremely difficult feats of strength, dexterity and flexibility. This inspired several Oriental Animalians to learn about oriental acrobatics, which the performers were happy to teach them about.
The Lunar New Year's Parade made it a lot easier to see such a thing without going outside the country, both for Animalians and for humans. The only western addition was people throwing candy out for children, even of the candy was Oriental.
There was also a showcase of Asian music. This not only included performing Asian music, but also a display on Asian musical instruments. It also turned out that Animalians had a preference for traditional Asian music. It also showed that performing Asian music wasn't just about the musical instruments, but also about how they were played.
The fireworks display not only included the rockets and mortar shells common in firework displays, but also traditional fireworks from Asia, which weren't all about explosions. There were one or two old fireworks that told stories as the fire burned, revealing the characters.
During the celebrations, there were many Asian storytellers that told many traditional stories, ranging from simple stories that taught lessons, to epics that had been passed down for generations, and origins of certain martial arts schools.
Ripely's Believe It or Not also got in on the act, with displays of art from their collection, as well as portraits and/or busts of unusual Asian individuals, from the Unicorn Man named Wang, to the Lighthouse Man.
All in All, the Animalian Lunar New Year celebrations were a great way to learn about Asia in a new and unusual way. What was remarkable was that there were relatively few unplanned surprises, but those that were were especially noteworthy, and had unexpected benefits.
One such thing was surprise visit from a representative from the US military. Officially the visit was an outreach program by the president as a formal apology for causing grief, but the converted Animalians who were once veterans weren't fooled. They knew that the military wanted to see the capabilities of Animalians as soldiers, so they contacted Clara about it. Clara then proceeded to tell the military representative that choosing to serve in the military was up to the Animalian he asked. Much to the military representative's surprise, most Animalians chose not to, and the elephant Animalians, to his greater surprise, really didn't like the atmosphere of war. But when Clara remarked about her joke about owning a private island for the sake of Ran and other saltwater aquatic Animalians to the representative, he offered to give them an Air Force base in the tropical Pacific that was built during WWII, but was decommissioned after the Vietnam War (after checking with his government first). Clara was glad to have such a place, especially because Ran was starting to feel a little homesick about the ocean, and didn't mind having to retrofit the old Air Force Base into a tropical vacation spot, because Animalia was all about new beginnings.